Smelting-furnace.



No. 707.602. c. LAUGHLIN.

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(Application filed Dec. 28, 1901.)

Patented Aug. 26, I902 azf.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES LAUGIILIN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

SME LTlNG-FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 707,602, dated August 26, 1902. Application filed December 28,1901. Serial No. 87,576. (No model-l To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES LAUGHLIN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful'Improvements in Smelting-Fnrnaces, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to smelting-furnaces, and has for its principal objects to maintain the jacket at the proper temperature, to economize water, to prevent disagreeable noise, and generally to improve the construction of furnaces.

My invention consists in the parts and in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

The accompanying drawing, which forms part of this specification, is a vertical sectional elevation of a smelting-furnace embodying my invention.

My furnace comprises the usual elements, namely: the hearth 1, whose wall is preferably vertical, the smelting zone 2, whose wall is preferably boshed or flared outwardly, the hood 3, and the stack 4, which conforms to any of the usual furnace designs. The walls of the hearth and smelting zone are a hollow metal shell made, preferably, in sections and constituting a water-jacket. Opening into the lower portion of this jacket is a pipe 5,

which leads from the bottom or lower portionof a large water-tank 8 or other source of water-supply. Preferably this pipe opens high enough above the bottom of the jacket to provide a sediment-basin. A second pipe 6 extends from the uppermost portion of the jacket to the uppermost portion of said watertank. In this last-mentioned pipe 6 is a T, to whose vertical branch is connected a pipe 7, extending upwardly alongside of the stack. The tank 8 is preferably provided with a pipe 9, connected to a source of water-supply and having a valve 10, controlled by a float 29 in said tank or by any other suitable automatic device whose action depends upon the waterlevel in the tank. This automatic device is preferably set to maintain such water-level slightly below or even with the level of said pipe 6.

The operation of this arrangement is as follows: When the furnace is in operation, the water in the jacket is heated, and thereby becomes lighter than the water in the tank, whereupon a circulation ensues from the top of the jacket to the water-tank and from the bottom of the water-tank to the lower part of the jacket. If the rate of circulation is slow or if the volume of the water in the tank is small, steam is generated in the water-jacket. In converting the water into steam a large amount of heat is absorbed as the latent heat of steam, and as soon as the water begins to boil the temperature of the jacket remains constantly at the boiling-point. The ebullition in the jacket is more or less violent, and hot water is carried up thereby into the upper pipe which leads to the supply-tank. The steam passes through this last mentioned pipe and partly through the vertical pipe into the atmosphere. In passing through such pipes, however, some of the steam is condensed and flows back into the tank, so that only that portion is wasted which escapes into the atmosphere. By reason of the arrangement and location of the vertical escapepipe it acts not only as a relief-pipe, but also as a steam-separator to separate the steam from the water. In performing this function the roar and disagreeable noise incident to the mixture of water and steam in a pipe are in a large measure avoided.

The principal advantages of my device are its economy of water, its freedom from disagreeable noise, and its uniformity of jacket temperature.

Another important advantage is that the active circulation of the boiling water carries a large portion of the lime and other solid im purities of the water out into the main tank, where such lime and impurities are allowed to settle. A small amount of sediment is deposited in the sediment-basin at'the bottom of the water-jacket; but as the inlet-pipe communicates with the water-jacket at some distance above its bottom such sediment does not afiect the circulation of the water.

What I claim is 1. The combination with a smelting-furnace having hollow walls constituting a water jacket, of a water-tank on a level therewith, a pipe connecting the lower portion of said water-tank with the lower portion of said water-jacket, and a pipe connecting the upper portion of said water-jacket with the upper portion of said water-tank, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a smeltingfurnace having hollow walls constituting a waterjacket, of a water-tank, a pipe connecting the lower portion of said water-tank with the lower portion of said water-jacket, and a pipe connecting the upper portion of said Waterjacket with the upper portion of said watertank, and means for maintaining the level of water in said tank below the upper portion of said pipe, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a smelting-furnace having hollow walls constituting a waterjacket, of a water-tank, a pipe connecting the lower portion of said water tank with the lower portion of said Water-jacket, and a pipe connecting the upper portion of said Waterjacket with the upper portion of said watertank, and automatically acting means for maintaining the level of water in said tank nearly even with the upper portion of said pipe, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a smelting-furnace having hollow walls constituting a waterjacket, of a water-tank, apipe connecting the lower portion of said water-tank with the lower portion of said water-jacket above the bottom of said jacket, and a pipe connecting the upper portion of said water-tank with the upper portion of the water-jacket, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a smelting-furnace having hollow walls constituting a Waterjacket, of a Water-tank, apipe connecting the lower portion of said Water-tank with the lower portion of said Water-jacket, and a pipe connecting the upper portion of said watertank with the upper portion of the waterjacket, said upper pipe having a vertical branch open to the atmosphere, substantially as described.

- CHAS. LAUGHLIN.

Witnesses:

JAMES A. CARR, EUGENE BUDER. 

